Lenten Worship Resources 2016

“Have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves… the point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.”

poet Rainer Maria Rilke

In Lent, we experience a holy season of preparation, preparing for the new life of Easter. Traditionally, this preparation has been about “giving up” something, about sacrificing pleasure. In recent years, there’s been a move to “take on” something, usually a new spiritual practice. These are indeed ways some people have found helpful in preparing for the new life of Easter.

But, what if we look at Lent as not just a season, but a journey? And not just any journey, but a journey of renewal? And, what if, on this journey of renewal, we not only ask, but encourage, love, nurture, the questions that are begging to be brought to life in us?

Questions such as:

How do I live into God’s mission? For me? For my community? For the world?

Does life have to seem so hard? Is it okay if that gets me down? How can I find hope?

Will we ever know why bad things happen? How can we respond faithfully when they do?

What does it mean to belong? For me? For others? For our community?

In the face of all our challenges, how can find faith to face the future in God?